The Graphical Query Editor Tutorial has been rewritten for version 3.0. Folks who have worked through the old tutorial will notice only a few significant differences, such as the use of the new Logos keyboards, and the regular expression section has been significantly revised because the syntax changed from version 2.0. There are some minor changes to the sections on field searching and reference searching. Happy searching.

Today’s guest blogger is Erland Injerd, a developer who works in the Network and Systems department at Logos.

So you’re sitting at your desk at the end of a long day inside. The sun is shining outdoors, and the sky is the deepest crisp blue you’ve ever seen.

“Hey,” a coworker drops by your desk. “Let’s play some Ultimate Frisbee.”

This sounds promising.

“There are eight other people already on their way — meet you at the park!”

Off to the park you go…and sure enough, there’s a whole crowd of familiar faces, ready to start running in a friendly game of Ultimate.

Sound like a pleasant, post-lunch daydream?

Not at Logos Bible Software. During the summer months, what better way to work out some stress, get a bit of fresh air, and enjoy God’s creation than a game of Ultimate Frisbee, right after a hard day’s work?

“But getting enough people together is like pulling teeth,” the skeptic might say. “Schedules conflict, people leave early, no one knows exactly what park you’re going to…the list goes on.”

Fortunately, we work for a software company full of enterprising developers. Several years back, one of our devs made a website that manages the Ultimate games for interested employees. Just tell the site what days you can play, and it will send you an E-mail in the morning, asking you to sign up that day. If enough players sign up on a given day, all the Ultimate Heroes get a “Game On!” E-mail — we’re headed to the park! The game is always at the same place and the same time, so no one gets confused, and if not enough people sign up, well, no one arrives at the park wondering where everyone else is (we hope).

But it’s not enough to know that some of Logos secretly plays Ultimate. How do the games go?

Thankfully, nowhere in the hiring process at Logos does it mention “skill at Ultimate Frisbee.” While some of us are fairly gifted at running and throwing and yelling (or just yelling), most of us are pretty casual, average players. The little website that schedules our games is also smart enough to take past results, crunch the statistics, and figure out the real movers and shakers. They all get stuck on one team, and everyone else….
Actually, the teams tend to shake out pretty balanced, after each player has a few games recorded. There have been some embarrassing 15-3 or 15-5 final scores (yes, we play to fifteen), but for the most part, the games tend to end up fairly close.

Of course, that keeps things interesting. When the score is 13-12, and it’s 7PM, people start getting focused. Do you really want to throw long? How about we send someone to the end zone. Cover that guy, he’s getting physical…just give him a little elbow. Some of us are good at throwing, some are good at catching, some are good at guarding — and there’s my personal favorite: running a lot.

But when the day is done, and everyone shakes hands, gives high-fives, talks a little smack about “that last pass,” you know the Ultimate game was worth it. Lots of exercise, lots of sun, lots of great times with friends — what a way to end a day’s work for an awesome company. So, the next time you’re wondering: how do we do it, remember the Ultimate. Sometimes, making software isn’t all about a computer screen.

Several readers have requested that we produce more examples of syntax searching. Your wish is my command — at least in this case. I made a video that shows how to make a syntax search to find all the places in the Hebrew Bible where an animal speaks, or more specifically, where a clause has a verb of speaking with a “creature” in the subject. The query uses the semantic categories present in the A-F markup to narrow the hits down to only verbs of speaking with “creature” subjects.

Logos Bible Software version 3.0 sports a new feature called Vocabulary Lists that can be used to create flashcards to help you learn Greek, Hebrew or almost any other language. In addition, we’ve already made vocabulary lists for many popular Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic grammars so that you don’t have to! To learn more about creating vocabulary lists or downloading the pre-made lists, check out the new web article. Cheers!

Logos Bible Software Version 3.0 introduced the use of homograph indicators for searching biblical texts in ancient languages. More information on homograph indicators and how to use them can be found in the new web article entitled, appropriately, Homograph Indicators.

The Lindsey Family leg of the Road Trip is over but not without some great stories, testimonials, and RV issues!

What an amazing journey it has been traveling this great nation showing the body of Christ the latest in technology for Bible study. My wife and children were actually sad to turn the RV over the Fallahee family for their part of the Road Trip.

After almost 2 weeks in Florida we headed north to South Carolina. We had a tremendous turnout for the events in Columbia and Greer. In Greer, Dr. Tony Beam the director of the Christian Worldview Center for North Greenville College attended the event and had this to say:

Without a doubt, Logos Bible Software version 3 is the fastest, most inclusive, easiest to use Bible software I have ever seen. The new Version 3 of the Scholar’s Library is beyond belief. I teach several classes at North Greenville University and I host a two hour morning talk show (Christian Worldview Today) Monday through Friday on Christian Talk 660. I also serve as Interim Pastor at Whitefield Baptist Church in Anderson, South Carolina and I write three columns per week for various publications. I will use the Scholar’s Library in all of my ministry settings and feel it is the perfect theological tool for teaching, answering questions about the Bible, and of course preaching. Thanks Logos for helping me become better equipped and making the most of my Bible study time. It is simply the best Bible software on the market!

When the last South Carolina event was done the Lindseys headed to the mountains for a peaceful weekend at Solitude Point. For 3 days we had no Internet or cell coverage – I almost died and my wife loved every minute of it! What a peaceful and relaxing weekend. One evening while sitting by the campfire roasting marshmallows for S’mores, I got the laptop out to demo Version 3. During the presentation, the Skinner family got really excited about Logos and purchased the Leader’s Library. Kathy Skinner had this to say about Logos:

When Scott pulled in the campground with the Logos Bible Software RV, our interest was piqued. When we were sitting by the campfire, he brought out his laptop and gave us an amazing demo!! In my Bible studies I enjoy comparing the different translations. I have a very thick, heavy Bible that does have 4 translations in it, but limits me to where I can do that type of study. It’s too heavy to take on vacation and use. I also do my family history and was thrilled with the fact that this new version of Logos will take any name from the Bible and generate a genealogy. I also will enjoy using the Bible Reading Plan and the Prayer Journal. Logos will also help my husband, who is a long distance truck driver. Thanks for making Bible study so easy, it throws the excuses of not doing it right out the window!

From South Carolina we headed to First Baptist Church of Matthews in North Carolina. From there we finished out North Carolina with Pastor Mike Garrett at Crossroads Fellowship. Pastor Garrett is very passionate about Logos and helped us with a great turnout. There were many Precept Bible Study students at the presentation who were very excited about the new mark-up tools in Logos (watch a demo!).

Our last day of the Road Trip turned out to be quite eventful. With about 8 miles to go on our drive to Norfolk for our last event the RV decided it had had enough of the heat and severe storm weather and wouldn’t go more than about 5 MPH. With a few hours till the event at First Baptist Church of Berkley we had to drive the remaining leg of the trip at about a walking pace on the side of the freeway with the hazards blinking. When we got to one of the Norfolk tunnels the Lindsey family was in major prayer that we wouldn’t get stuck under the city…my heart was pounding!We barely got through the tunnel and made it to the church with about an hour to spare…God is good! Almost 100 people were there to see the new Logos in action. One of our special guests was Pastor Peter Badia from Kenya. The host church purchased Scholar’s Gold for Pastor Badia and he sent me an email detailing his excitement:

It was such a blessing to be present during the Logos Bible software presentation. I am excited as I get to make use of Logos to teach the word in Kenya Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo and southern Sudan. Next year I will be targeting North Africa. I am glad that I will be better equipped when I take the step into the northern part of Africa. I am very sure that the Lord brought me from Kenya right on time to receive instruction on how to use Logos. I count myself privileged to go back home with this tool!

John Fallahee and family took the keys from us in Baltimore. Although they weren’t able to jump right into the RV for their part of the Road Trip journey it looks like all the RV repairs will be finished in time to keep the Road Trip schedule on track. Sorry for the bad picture of the RV being towed, all I had was my cell phone camera but had to document the memory.

It was a privilege to work with so many wonderful churches and people and the memories we made as a family will last a lifetime. We now head to Williamsburg for the start of a few weeks’ vacation. Please pray for the Fallahee family as they embark on this great adventure!

Note in the video that I use the F2 key to cycle between English, Hebrew and Greek keyboards (in that order) in order to type in English and Greek on the same line. I probably should’ve mentioned that, but it’s too late now.

Remember, you can do this with right-clicks too. See this previous entry for more details (with a video).

On the weekend, my wife Susan and I took my uncle and aunt to visit Oak Harbor. The Logos headquarters were located there (in a converted barn) before the company moved to Bellingham four years ago. After Logos moved out, the building remained empty for quite some time, so I was surprised to discover that almost all the suites were rented to new tenants. However, there apparently hasn’t been any reason to take down the old sign:

The Development department has now been turned into MS Nails, a “a sensual and eclectic boutique shop”:

Marketing has become a salon and day spa:

And Electronic Text Development has become—what else?—a tattoo parlour:

What’s a widget? It’s a handy little application that sits in the Mac OS X Dashboard and does something useful. Usually, just one thing or a couple of things. In the case of the Logos Bible Widget, you can…

Look up any Bible verse instantly! Simply type or cut and paste any scripture reference into the Logos Bible Widget and instantly see the entire verse. Easier than grabbing your Bible off the shelf, faster than going to Bible Gateway, and best of all, it’s free!

But wait, there’s more…! Another reason to install the widget (on a Mac only, remember?) is that we’ll use it to announce Logos for the Mac when it ships. So not only can you subscribe to the Logos for the Mac email…you can also keep tabs by installing the widget.